Book Clutch Bag

First of all... a bit of an apology. As you can see it's been a couple of weeks since I last posted, and I know my mum for one is clamouring for a new post. Things have been a bit busier with work, and in all honesty with all this nice weather I've not really felt too much like making things as I do in the freezing winter. But don't fret... I've been inspired by lots of things recently, and some lovely comments, so I will be making sure I keep to my regular posting from now on!

So... to the book clutch. I went to a wedding last weekend, and realised I didn't really have a little bag for keeping things in. I went shopping but couldn't find one I liked, so gave up and ended up in the magazine section of a supermarket reading Cloth magazine. Which is where I found an amazing little tutorial by the lovely lady at http://www.caughtonawhim.com/2012/09/diy-nerdy-chic-book-clutch.html.

Now by this time it was the night before the wedding, but I have another one this weekend, so I decided to make it as soon as possible. For those of you, like myself, who recoil in horror somewhat at the idea of cutting up a book, let me reassure you by telling you my book was/is infact the autobiography of a Mrs Cherie Blair. For those of you not from the UK, she is the wife of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, and is perhaps not the most interesting of people (in my opinion of course). Needless to say I wasn't even distracted by reading the book, and perfectly happy to cut it up!

Erica's tutorial is really great so obviously there's little for me to say on the subject of actually making the book bag. I did use PVA glue, rather than Mod Podge, as it's much cheaper and easier to come by in the UK. I'm really happy with my book clutch although if you look closely inside, it's not particularly neat. If you have a really thick book like me, make sure your knife is very sharp, and you don't hack away at it in excitement like I did. I also found that PVA stuck to my wax paper so I used a cut up plastic bag between pages, which PVA can easily be pulled away from.

All in all I'm really chuffed with my bag, and so happy I found the tutorial to make it. So why don't you make one too... just make sure it's book no ones likely to read!


Emily Kate
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A Knitted Clarinet..

This little guy is the second of my little knitted musicians. I am hoping... eventually, to do one of each instrument, although I have to admit the idea of a knitted french horn terrifies me somewhat.

As before I used the basic pattern for a body from the Stitch London book, and then personalised it. It is supposed to be my friend Elliott, the clarinettist in my ensemble (www.waldegrave-ensemble.com if you're interested!), and I think it's not too bad a likeness.

There's a round piece of cardboard in the bottom of the body to keep it flat and able to stand up. I deliberated for ages on how to do the hair, and ended up doing long stitches into the stuffing of the head, out through the crown and back in around where the hairline would be.

The clarinet was knitted i-cord, which makes a 3d kind of line of knitting, and I added silver thread for the details and wire threaded through to keep it rigid.

Stay tuned for the next mini musician! Any helpful ideas on how to go about knitting other instruments would be gratefully received..

Emily Kate

Best Ever Chocolate Brownies

Now I know it's a pretty bold claim to make... but these really are the best brownies I've tasted. If baked just right, they're soft and slightly gooey on the inside, but firm and crumbly on the outside. They're also completely nut free, which is rare for brownies, as I'm hardly ever able to eat them out. I'm not sure where the original recipe came from, I think perhaps from delicious magazine about 6 years ago and long since lost.

200g dark chocolate (the better quality, the better the brownies will taste, although I use cheap chocolate and it does just fine!)
150g butter
175g caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
3 large eggs
75g plain flour
1tsp baking powder
100 milk chocolate chips
100g white chocolate chips

Makes around 16 brownies.

• Set the oven to 180C and line a brownie, or deep roasting tin with greaseproof paper. Scrunching it up first helps it to mould to the shape of the tin better. 
• Break up the dark chocolate in to a microwaveable bowl, and add the butter. Melt in the microwave for short bursts of 20-30 secs at a time, stirring between. 
• When the chocolate is melted, add the caster sugar and vanilla essence and mix in. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well in-between. 
• Sift in the flour and baking powder. Mix the milk and white chocolate chips with a little flour, to stop them sinking to bottom of the brownies during cooking, add to the mixture. 
• Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, and bake at 180C for around 40 mins, until the top is set firm but a skewer inserted still comes out with a slightly gooey mixture in the middle.
• Wait for the brownies to cool, then cut into squares and dust with a little cocoa powder.

....and enjoy! I dare you to be able to eat just one...

Emily Kate 

Tile Coasters Tutorial

I eventually got round yesterday to making something I've meant to do for ages... some nice coasters. The ones we had previously were flimsy bits of weird plastic recovered from one of my dad's flats, when the tenant upped and left. (we just can't turn free stuff down!)

I love the idea of having things around that no one else will have, and that cost little to make. By using an old London map they also create a talking point in the home too. Now I know there are probably hundreds of tutorials for this type of thing, but hey, why not one more, which doesn't include the use of 'Mod Podge'!

 So above is all the supplies you need to make these coasters. I chose to use an old map I found at a flea  market in Somerset, but you could use any piece of paper material you like. I'm thinking of doing some more from an old newspaper, or some old sheet music (although as a musician that does seem kinda like sacrilege).

• First cut out squares from the paper your using that are slightly smaller than the tiles themselves. I used a stanley knife against a ruler to get a really clean straight edge and ironed them flat. 
• On some newspaper, paint on a layer of standard PVA glue to the tiles and carefully place the paper squares on top. Wait for the glue to dry completely before the next step. 
• Mix some PVA glue in a cup with water to a roughly 1:1 ratio. You may see on other tutorials people talking about Mod Podge, or other decoupage glue. I looked at getting some but it doesn't seem easy to get in the UK and having googled it a bit more, it seems to be PVA based anyway. So I stuck to plain old PVA. Spread a thin layer across the tiles and wait until it dries completely. Repeat this several times(I did around 6) until the surface is shiny and the paper is completely stuck to the tile.
• When the last layer of PVA has dried, flip the tiles and stick some cork, or felt pads on the bottom.

If you're giving them as a gift, stack and tie some ribbon around them or if not, put the kettle on for their very first use!

Emily Kate
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What's a bassoon?

When people ask me what I do for a living... I say, I'm a musician. Then of course the next question is always, what do you play?
When I answer 'the bassoon', 9 times out of 10 this is met with a blank stare, or 'is that like a violin/saxophone/trumpet?'. 'Er..not really. At all. No.'

So... I decided to knit one. Well... a mini me, holding a mini bassoon.

 To knit the basic head and body of my mini me, I used the pattern for 'little londoners' from the Stitch London book. This is really lovely book full of random quirky little things to knit, all london related, and more useful gifts too, like mug huggers and book covers.

So after knitting my basic little person, I embroidered on some eyes and a mouth, a sort of knot for the nose, and sewed on strands of wool to the scalp area for hair.

 To give the arms some structure I pushed a length of thin beading wire through each one so I could move them to the position I wanted. I did the same thing for the bassoon itself, to keep it straight, and added detail with silver thread and more wire. To attach the bassoon to the arms, I pushed a piece of wire through both pieces and back out in a U shape.

So now whenever someone asks me 'What's a bassoon?' I can whip this out of my handbag. There may also be other little musicians on the way so watch this space...

Emily Kate.

Hot Cross Muffins

So easter is a-coming...and my most favourite thing to eat at this time of year (or pretty much all year round) is hot cross buns. Now last year I made a few batches from scratch, using a recipe from my favourite baking book, Peyton and Byrne's British Baking. They were really scrummy, but as it is a bread recipe, with all the rising time it takes several hours to complete. This year I've got a bit less time on my hands, so I decided to make something with the flavours of a hot cross bun, but much less of the hassle. This recipe is adapted from one from taste.com, but I was surprised to find very few recipes for a similar thing online, so I decided to share mine. 

Ingredients:

100g currants                                                                 

100g mixed peel

2tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2tsp nutmeg

200g caster sugar

375g self raising flour

2 eggs

165ml sunflower oil, or melted margarine

100ml yoghurt

150ml milk

2tbsp sugar, 2tbsp water for bun wash

100g icing sugar with a little water for piping

• Preheat the oven to 200C and line a 12 hole muffin tin with cases. 
• Sift together the flour, bicarb and spices into large mixing bowl and add the sugar. 
• Add the dried fruit to the bowl.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, yoghurt, milk and oil until combined.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix just enough to combine.
• Divide the mixture between the muffin cases and bake for 20 mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. 
• Put the water and sugar for the glaze in a saucepan and simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved. Brush the glaze over the cooled muffins. 
• Mix the icing sugar with a little water at a time until it is thick but still able to be piped. Use a piping bag to pipe crosses on the top of the muffins. 

Enjoy :)

Emily Kate

Embroidered Glasses Case

So my latest little sewing project is a present I made for my Mum's birthday last week. She recently started wearing reading glasses she buys for £1, and then can never find when she needs them.

handmade embroidered glasses case

 I decided to make a glasses case quite a while ago but I couldn't decide what style to do, a plain fabric one or to incorporate some sort of embroidery, as it is my latest fad.

Then I remembered something I saw a while back - negative space embroidery. I decided to just go for the obvious word - glasses, for a glasses case. I like the idea that you know exactly what it is.
For my fabric I chose a cute pink and white polka dot cotton for the lining, and a wool felt for the outside. I used some polyester wadding for extra protection.

So for the embroidery, I first typed the letters out in Microsoft Word, and found a font that I liked. I put it inside a box the same size as I planned for my glasses case, and then printed the template out and used a craft knife to cut out the letters. I then traced around the inside of the letters with my fabric pencil.

Next I started sewing.. first going around all of the letters in a backstitch so I had a clear boundary for where there would be no stitches.
I then started to do lots of stitches close together in different directions from the outline of the letters to about half a centimetre around. I think the wool felt works really nicely for embroidery, and it is a lovely soft fabric to work with.

I really love how the letters stand out, and have now have lots of ideas for other projects using this method!


Emily Kate.